Using new materials, mufflers last and last

crossover pipes and catalytic converters that broke when the old muffler was removed routinely jacked up the cost to hundreds of dollars.

“People started wanting to keep their cars longer,” Gallitz said. “Durability became a big selling point, so the car companies started building them stronger so they would last without needing a ton of maintenance.”

It wasn’t just that mufflers were made of cut-rate materials, though. Their design was at odds with the laws of physics, hastening their demise.

How Stuff Works.com contributor Cherise LaPine explains that constant heating and cooling aided and abetted corrosion. Add salt from winter streets and condensation in the muffler and pipes, and you had a recipe for scrap metal.

But these days, Gallitz said, not so much. Today’s stainless steel mufflers don’t corrode as easily, tolerate the heat better and come with “weep” holes that let the condensation drip out and dry up.

In fact, he said, customers often say they’re worried about seeing a puddle on the garage floor, or moisture drizzling down the driveway. “You’re supposed to see that,” Gallitz said. “That shows that the weep holes are doing their job.”

How long should a muffler last on a car built within in the past 20 or so years? Most commenters in a Car Talk discussion board said they’ve had no problems with any original exhaust system parts on cars of many makes going back to the early 1990s.

Still, experts say a little care may help a muffler last for the life of a vehicle.

LaPine suggests limiting the number of short trips that produce condensation but don’t allow the engine to heats up enough to dry the exhaust system.

And while stainless steel is tough, Ramthun says it’s still a good idea to remove salt by ordering the underbody flush at a car wash or spraying the underbody of your vehicle with a hose.

And, about those rubber or metal gaskets, clamps and hangers: LaPine says they now cause more trouble than the mufflers and pipes themselves. They may not threaten a sudden, complete failure of your exhaust system, but she doesn’t recommend ignoring them.

Gallitz says it’s not a good idea to ignore any exhaust system problem.

“It’s easy to think that it isn’t a big deal if the tailpipe needs to be replaced,” he said. “In a lot of vehicles, they’re just these short nubs that extend only a few inches from the muffler, and it they rust or break off, you don’t hear any noise.”

The danger, he said, is that “fumes can get into the cabin if the exhaust exits the system before it gets all the way to the end of the vehicle.”